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Rice Twp. supervisors decertify fire company

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DAVE SCHERBENCO/For the Standard-Speaker
Residents wait outside the Rice Township Municipal Building after being ejected en masse prior to a vote to decertify the fire company.

Despite pleas from scores of Rice Township residents as well as officials of neighboring Slocum Township to give their volunteer fire department a chance to fix its problems, township supervisors on Tuesday night voted 2-1 to adopt an ordinance decertifying the fire company as its fire service provider and enter into a contract with Wright Township Volunteer Fire Department for fire protection.

More than 60 people jammed into the township meeting room for the special meeting called to consider the ordinance. All but one of the residents who spoke opposed the measure decertifying the fire company. However, when the vote finally was held, after more than 90 minutes of public comment, none of those residents were present.

Prior to the vote, Supervisor Chairman Miller Stella Jr. directed township police to clear the meeting room. Only members of the media were present when Stella, who made the motion to adopt the ordinance, and George Venesky voted in favor. Supervisor Marcia Thomas voted no.

The ordinance states the ability of the Rice Township Volunteer Fire Company to provide adequate fire and emergency service has been compromised by a number of problems. It cites a lack of adequately trained and qualified individuals residing in Rice Township; financial mismanagement; violations of the December 2012 contract between the township and the fire department; illegal burning of refuse on fire department property and failure to maintain fire department property.

Stella's action to clear the room came after he inadvertently made a motion to adjourn the session prior to a vote on his motion to adopt the ordinance. Hearing Stella move to adjourn, Thomas, who strongly opposed the ordinance, quickly seconded the motion. At that point, audience members began shouting and arguing with Stella that the meeting was over and no vote could be taken. The supervisor then ordered police to clear the room, a threat he made repeatedly throughout the meeting. Township solicitor William Higgs stated it was his opinion the meeting was still in session, even though the public was removed, and a vote on the ordinance could be taken. He also said the motion to adjourn carried no weight as there was a previous motion on the floor. Though Thomas got up and walked away from her chair at the supervisors' table after police cleared the room, she stayed in the room and voted no when secretary/treasurer Donald Armstrong took a roll call vote on the ordinance.

Township resident Joan Alles, the first resident to speak, posed a question that most other residents who followed her to the podium asked. "I don't understand. Why can't we fix this problem instead of throwing it (the fire department) away?" she asked "Why do we want to get rid of a fire department in our own community and ask another one to do it?"

Thomas Cherry, another resident and former member of the township planning commission, described the reasons for decertifying the fire department as "ludicrous."

"What's the urgency?" Cherry said.

He pointed out the state Department of Transportation is planning to remove a bridge on Henry Drive, which will result in a 5-mile detour responders from Wright Township will encounter.

"If someone dies while the bridge is out, what are you going to say, 'Too bad'?" Cherry challenged supervisors.

Peter Webby, president of Slocum Township Volunteer Fire Department and a township supervisor, urged Rice officials to work with the township fire company to fix problems.

"I just don't want to see this fire department thrown away like this," Webby said.

"That's why we count on each other," Herring said. "There is a problem, but they are trying to fix it. You don't solve it by moving your fire protection eight miles down the road," he added.

Joseph Powers, former president of the fire company, and Brian Brown, another former member, urged supervisors to help the fire department move forward with its plans to merge with Wright Township, rather than decertify it.

"Find a way to move the merger along," Powers urged supervisors.

Brown, who was a member of the department for 20 years, offered his help to get the department back on its feet.

"I've been down there. The department is worth saving. The residents are telling you the department is still important to them," Brown said. "The department can be saved. I'm willing to go down and lend my 20 years of expertise."

Attorney John Rodgers, a resident of Ice Lakes, pointed out that decertifying the township fire department will most likely result in a 25 percent increase in fire insurance premiums.

"Money is not the issue, though," he said. "People's lives are at stake."

Rodgers urged supervisors to appoint an oversight board to manage the fire department while it gets its house in order. He pointed out Butler Township had problems with its fire department several years ago and had success with such a step.

"Closing the fire department does not solve the problem. It only makes the problem worse," township resident Mark Taney told supervisors.

Venesky and Stella answered the residents' urging to give the fire department time to fix its problems and move forward with a merger with Wright Township by stating the problems have gone on for more than two years.

"They've had chances," Venesky said.

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